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Lu Ye immediately checked his surroundings. He relaxed when he confirmed that there was no danger.
His Battlefield Imprint notified him of a new message. When he checked it, he realized that it was Xia Qianqian reminding him to meet up with her at the nearest Divine Trade Association.
Earlier, Lu Ye and the three women had agreed to sell the Beast Pact Art to the Vault of Providence after exiting the Hidden Realm. As the secret technique was something that could uplift a faction to a whole new level, they were expecting the Heavens to reward them handsomely for it. Specifically, they were hoping to garner the Heavens’ attention. The Contribution Points they would get for selling the secret technique was secondary at best.
Lu Ye took out his 10-point map and inspected it for a moment. Once he had identified his position, he brought out his flying Spirit Artifact and soared into the sky.
Two hours later, Lu Ye landed in front of a Divine Trade Association hotspot. Three people were already waiting for him. They were Kitty Shen, Xia Qianqian, and to his surprise, Lan Ziyi.
Lu Ye had no idea how the woman made it out of the insectoid nest or infiltrated Bilandia, but the fact she was here meant she must have left the Myriad Beasts Domain earlier than the rest of them.
Kitty Shen gave him a wave, and Xia Qianqian greeted him cordially. Lan Ziyi’s expression revealed nothing as he met her eyes for a second.
“I thought you weren’t going to show up for a second there!” Xia Qianqian joked before patting him on the shoulder and pretending to his senior, “You’re not a bad person, boy! If you ever need help on the Cloud River Battlefield, do not hesitate to call upon my aid!”
Lu Ye rolled his eyes at her. “You’re about to ascend to the Real Lake Realm, aren’t you?”
Xia Qianqian’s offer sounded generous, but it only applied while she was still in the Cloud River Battlefield. Considering what they had gotten from the Hidden Realm, he did not doubt that she could ascend to the Real Lake Realm very soon. In other words, her offer was time-limited at best or not applicable at worst.
“Naw, I’m not leaving the Cloud River Battlefield that quickly. Anyway—” Xia Qianqian chuckled before changing the subject. “Since everyone is present, it is time to sell the secret technique to the Vault of Providence as per our promise. Before that though, we should make a Sacred Pact to prove that the four of us are the first sellers of the secret technique. Ye Six, you’re the reason we got this secret technique in the first place, so you can have seventy percent of the Contribution Points. The rest of us will take ten percent each. Are we in agreement?”
Kitty Shen and Lan Ziyi were perfectly fine with the arrangement. Lu Ye nodded in acknowledgement as well.
He wasn’t a promise breaker, and they had shared a pleasant cooperative relationship in the Hidden Realm. The least he could do after they served him as his attendants was to repay the favor.
“I’ll summon the Sacred Pact then,” Xia Qianqian offered before straightening her expression and mumbling under her breath. Very soon, a beam of golden light descended from the sky, and she fished out a Sacred Pact from within. She then passed it to the others so that they might inspect it.
Everyone planted their handprint on the Sacred Pact after confirming its contents. When all was said and done, Lu Ye said, “Alright. I’m going to sell the secret technique now.”
He then walked into the Divine Trade Association and stopped in front of the Divine Opportunity Column.
Every Divine Trade Association hotspot possessed a Divine Opportunity Column of their own. Cultivators did not need to pay any additional fee to use it. However, this also meant that the sanctum was constantly packed with people. Lu Ye had to wait for a bit before it was finally his turn to use the Divine Opportunity Column.
Lu Ye put his hand on the pillar and connected his mind with the Vault of Providence. An instant later, he found himself standing in the Vault of Providence. As usual, the place was cluttered with all kinds of goods. He proceeded to bring out the jade slip the Great Elder had given him and attempted to sell it.
As expected, the Vault of Providence offered him a whopping fifty thousand Contribution Points if he chose to sell it directly to the Vault of Providence. Since it was agreed that he would receive seventy percent of the profit, that was thirty five thousand Contribution Points.
He knew why he was offered such a huge sum for the secret technique. The Beast Taming faction would never be the same again once the technique was popularized.
Without hesitation, he accepted the transaction and felt the jade slip disappearing from his hand. At the same time, his Battlefield Imprint suddenly heated up a little. He took a moment to inspect it.
Name: Lu Yi Ye
Identity: Disciple of Crimson Blood Sect
Cultivation: Second Order Cloud River Realm
Location: Cloud River Battlefield
Contribution Points: Ninety Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty
Battle Points: Fifty Six
He had a little over fifty-seven thousand Contribution Points before this. The numbers matched.
He also noticed that a new row, Battle Points, had been added beneath Contribution Points. It showed exactly how many Battle Points he had left after exchanging them for Amulets.
Ninety two thousand Contribution Points was a huge sum. He doubted that there were many Cloud River Realm cultivators out there who could match his wealth. After all, few people would hoard Contribution Points unless they were aiming to buy something expensive. Generally speaking, it was better to spend them on things that could grow one’s strength as quickly as possible.
Now that the secret technique was properly registered in the Vault of Providence, anyone could buy it by paying a certain amount Contribution Points.
Lu Ye was curious to know how much the Beast Pact Art would be sold for in the store. When he checked, he saw that its price tag was over eight thousand Contribution Points. That was more expensive than even the best Heaven Grade cultivation technique out there.
At first glance, it would seem like the secret technique was sold at a lower value than it was worth. Lu Ye and the girls were paid a whopping fifty thousand Contribution Points for it after all. However, the copy in the Vault of Providence could be sold repeatedly, and there were a lot of Beast Tamers in Jiu Zhou.
Beast Taming might be a small faction compared to the Six Factions, but it was a big faction compared to other minor factions. Therefore, the amount of people who would be interested in the secret technique could only be innumerable. The Vault of Providence only needed to sell seven copies to recoup what it had paid to Lu Ye.
When it came to doing business, the Vault of Providence possessed a unique advantage that no one could match. For example, Lu Ye would never consider selling the secret technique to another cultivator because he wouldn’t receive Contribution Points for it. Moreover, the sale would not earn him the attention of the Heavens. No matter how he looked at it, selling the secret technique to the Vault of Providence was the best choice.
It was true that Lu Ye was very lucky already, but who would begrudge their luck becoming even better?
After that, Lu Ye left the Vault of Providence and returned to the entrance. Xia Qianqian and Kitty Shen were still waiting for him, but Lan Ziyi was nowhere to be seen.
The woman had already escaped, of course. The only reason she came here was to receive the Heavens’ boon and the Contribution Points. Since she had received both, why would she stay and give Lu Ye the chance to kill her, especially since she most likely wasn’t a match for him?
Xia Qianqian said, “Alright then. It’s really time for me to take my leave. Send me a message if you need me for anything.”
She bade them goodbye and vanished into the horizon.
After Xia Qianqian was gone, Kitty Shen asked, “Are you ready to head back to the Arcane Glade, Ye Six?”
“Not yet. I need to buy some things. You can go back first if you want.”
“It’s okay. I can wait. It’s not like a couple hours’ delay is going to make a difference.”
Lu Ye nodded and went back into the Divine Trade Association.
He was planning to buy some raw materials to forge his ward flags. In the Hidden Realm, he had used up everything he had except the ward flag set he had received from the Hundred Wards Tower. His abilities as a ward cultivator would be affected if he did not have a sufficient amount of ward flags and ward keystones.
When he was still a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator, Lu Ye was forced to purchase his ward flags directly from the Vault of Providence because he was too weak to forge them via telekinesis. Plus, he never really had the time or place to forge his ward flags since he was constantly being hunted by the Thousand Demon Ridge.
It was a different story now that he was a Cloud River Realm cultivator. At the Second-Order, he was almost strong enough to forge ward flags via telekinesis without using any tools. Naturally, he wasn’t going to waste his Contribution Points on pre-made ward flags any longer.
Lu Ye exited the Divine Trade Association a second time a little over half an hour later. He had spent almost all of his Spirit Stones on raw materials.
Kitty Shen was still waiting for him outside.
“Let’s go,” Lu Ye beckoned before flying into the sky. Kitty Shen followed closely behind him.
On the way back to their Arcane Glade, Kitty Shen suddenly recalled something and asked, “I totally forgot, where is Sister Yi Yi?”
She had not seen Yi Yi since they entered the Hidden Realm. She hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but it didn’t make sense for the young girl to still be missing after they exited the Hidden Realm.
“Oh, she didn’t follow us into the Hidden Realm. I asked her to watch over the Arcane Glade for us,” Lu Ye lied.
“I see,” Kitty Shen replied without suspecting anything.
A little over half a day later, Lu Ye and Kitty Shen arrived at their Arcane Glade once more. However, they were greeted by a shocking sight. The Arcane Glade was in full view from the sky.
Lu Ye had established a Concealment Ward before they left the Arcane Glade. Generally speaking, no one should be able to spot Arcane Glade unless they were looking closely. However, the Arcane Glade was completely exposed right now. It could only mean that someone had destroyed his wards.
The duo hurriedly descended on the ground. A while later, Lu Ye stood in front of a dry Spirit Sprout with a deep frown on his face.
Kitty Shen walked up to him and said worriedly, “I can’t find Sister Yi Yi anywhere, Ye Six!”
Lu Ye had told her that Yi Yi was watching the Arcane Glade, but not only was she nowhere to be seen, the Arcane Glade was in tatters as well. Clearly, something bad must have happened to Yi Yi. It was only natural she was worried for her.
Although Yi Yi did not like her, she wasn’t so petty-minded that she would be delighted by her suffering. She was Lu Ye’s younger sister, which meant she was a companion she had to look out for. It was as simple as that.
Meanwhile, Lu Ye was still staring at the dry spring with a puzzled expression on his face. The Spirit Sprout had been dry when he decided to take refuge on this hill. Although there were some rundown buildings around it, it was clear that it was an abandoned Arcane Glade. The reason he decided to stay in the end was because the Spirit Sprout had chosen the same night to come back to life.
However, the Spirit Spout had dried up a second time after they returned from the Myriad Beasts Domain. If it had dried up naturally, then he had nothing to say. But it was clear from the surrounding traces that this was not a natural occurrence.
“I didn’t know that Spirit Sprouts could be destroyed,” Lu Ye said while turning to Kitty Shen. From his perspective, some bastard had destroyed both his wards and his Spirit Sprout, effectively guaranteeing a lose-lose scenario for everyone.
However, Kitty Shen denied his statement, “No, that’s not it. Someone has stolen the Wisp of Sanctification.”
“What is a Wisp of Sanctification?”
“Every Arcane Glade has a Spirit Sprout, and every Spirit Sprout has a Wisp of Sanctification. It is the source of a Spirit Sprout, and without it a Spirit Sprout is nothing more but a dead spring. In that sense, the Wisp of Sanctification is the true heart of an Arcane Glade,” Kitty Shen explained patiently.
It was quite simple to ferry a Wisp of Sanctification. The cultivator simply needed to offer the Heavens a certain amount of Contribution Points to manifest the Spirit Sprout. They could then store it in a special container and take it away.
Lu Ye was surprised to hear this. He had bought quite a lot of intel from the Divine Trade Association, but none of it had mentioned the wisp of Sanctification at all. It would seem that there were still many things about the Cloud River Battlefield that he didn’t know about.
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